Is This The Key to Preventing Age-Related Bone Loss?

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A study conducted by researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) provides new details about the mechanism of action in age-associated osteoporosis – thinning of bones and loss of bone density that increases the risk of fractures. Osteoporosis is a serious health problem that is more common in older adults and people with certain health conditions.

In people with age-related osteoporosis, cells in the body that normally create bone cells begin producing fat cells instead. The recent study involving mice conducted at UAB suggests a protein called Cbf-beta plays a crucial role in maintaining bone-producing cells, and according to researchers, aged mice have significantly lower levels of Cbf-beta in bone marrow cells than younger mice.

Additional research is needed to determine if maintaining Cbf-beta levels can help prevent age-associated osteoporosis in humans.

Chronic Migraine Worsens Jaw Pain

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Frequent migraine headaches increase the risk for another painful condition – temporomandibular disorder, or TMD – according to a recent study. TMD causes jaw pain and clicking and can result in difficulty chewing.

Researchers from the University of São Paulo’s Ribeirão Preto School of Medicine in Brazil conducted the study and the results were published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. According to the researchers, people who experience migraine attacks on 15 or more days of the month are three times more likely to have severe symptoms of TMD. Previous studies suggested a link between migraine and TMD, but this is the first to examine migraine frequency and jaw pain severity.

The study involved 84 women in their early to mid-thirties. Twenty-one of the study participants had chronic migraines, 32 had episodic migraines, and 32 women with no history of migraine were included as controls. TMD symptoms were observed by researchers in 54 percent of the women with no history of migraine, 80 of those with episodic migraine, and 100 percent of women with chronic migraine.

CDC: People in Rural Areas Are Less Likely to Wear Seat Belts

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According to a report issued late last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Americans who live in rural areas are three to 10 times more likely to die in motor vehicle crashes than those who live in urban areas. One contributing factor: Higher numbers of drivers and passengers who were not wearing seat belts at the time of the crash.

The report, part of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Rural Health Series, also suggested that the more rural the area, the higher the death risk for adult drivers and passengers. Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) was used to create the report.

The percentage of drivers and passengers who were not buckled at the time of a fatal crash was 44.4 percent in the most urban U.S. counties and 61.3 percent in the most rural counties. Self-reported seat belt use was lower in rural counties, ranging from 74.7 percent in the most rural counties to 88.8 percent in the most urban counties. Seat belt use was significantly higher in states where law enforcement officers can ticket drivers or passengers for failure to wear seat belts (primary enforcement states).